TEHRAN (FNA)- Head of Iran's Law Enforcement Police Brigadier General Hossein Ashtari announced that a large number of his forces have been deployed to the common border with Iraq to guarantee the security of Iranian pilgrims traveling to Iraq to take part in the mourning ceremonies marking Arbaeen, the end of 40 days of mourning following the anniversary of the martyrdom of Prophet Mohammad (PBUH)'s grandson and Shiite Muslims' third Imam, Hossein ibn-e Ali (AS).

"The Iranian pilgrims will be safe as security has been maintained along the routes that they will go through (across the border to reach Karbala in Southern Iraq); a large number of law enforcement forces are stationed along the country's borders to provide services to the Iranian pilgrims," General Ashtari said, addressing a ceremony in the city of Isfahan, Central Iran, on Sunday.

He, meantime, said that Iran's Law Enforcement Police will be equipped with modern electronic systems and devices.

"I hope that by modernizing the police the number of crimes will decrease," General Ashtari added.

Hundreds of thousands of Muslims in Iraq will rally from the city of Najaf to the city of Karbala, Southern Iraq, on December 2 to mark the Arbaeen.

Meantime, millions of Muslims from across the world, including Iran, also cross the borders of Iraq to join the 100-km rally, while hundreds of thousands more will join them on the way to Karbala and to the holy shrine of Imam Hossein (PBUH).

In November, Shiite pilgrims of Iraq and other countries, including Iran, flocked into Karbala, some 100 km South of Baghdad, and into Kadhmiyah in Northern Baghdad to commemorate Ashoura, which marks the anniversary of the martyrdom of Imam Hossein (PBUH), the grandson of Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) and the third Shiite Imam.

Imam Hossein (PBUH) was martyred in the 680 A.D. battle fought on the plains outside Karbala, a city in modern Iraq that's home to the Imam's holy shrine.

In the battle, Imam Hossein (PBUH) was decapitated and his body mutilated by Yazid's armies. All of Imam Hossein's male family members, relatives, friends, soldiers who all together formed a 72-member army were beheaded in an unequal war with a 30,000-strong army of the enemy in the desert of Karbala.

The occasion is the source of an enduring moral lesson for the Shiites.

Imam Hossein's martyrdom - recounted through a rich body of prose, poetry and song - remains an inspirational example of sacrifice to Shiites, who make up a majority of the Muslim population in Iran, Pakistan, Iraq and Bahrain.

By Fars News Agency